Top Skip Trace Services for Real Estate Investors - Guide to Save Big

That's why we've done the research for you and compared the top programs based on price, accuracy, and more.

Keep reading to find out which skip tracing software comes out on top. From free programs to ones with unlimited searches, we've considered price, accuracy, and more to help you make an informed decision.

We currently use many of these programs still today (not just one).  See our tips at the end of this article on how to combine multiple programs in order to save big time on your total skip tracing costs each month.

Not sure what skip tracing is? This article will explain.

What To Consider When Choosing a Skip Trace Provider

Accuracy

It's important to choose a provider that has a high success rate and can accurately locate the data you are searching for.  The data gets measured as hits.  So if you get a phone number back for a contact on your list that would be considered a hit.  Some providers give multiple phone numbers or emails, but for the purpose of this article, we will consider 1 hit any amount of data found for 1 contact. This could be multiple phone numbers for the same contact.

On top of that, we need to understand the accuracy of the hits.  If you get phone numbers for every contact on your list, you would have a 100 percent hit rate, but if 0 phone numbers are correct you would have a 0 percent accuracy rate.  So for the purpose of this article hits will be data per contact and accuracy is the percentage of hits that are correct.

Price

Compare the cost of different skip trace providers to find one that fits your budget. Some providers offer unlimited searches for a flat fee, while others charge per search.  Depending on the type of volume you are doing and how you are contacting the homeowners, you will want to consider accuracy to price.  There are diminishing returns.

Consider a balance between accuracy and cost for the best roi and read on below how to get the best of both worlds. If you can get 70 percent accuracy for 200 dollars you don't want to spend 2000 dollars for 71 percent accuracy on the same list. That is an extreme example for clarity only.

Turnaround Time

Consider how quickly you need the information and choose a provider that can meet your timeline.  Some of the more accurate or niche providers might take more time.  While most bulk providers are accessing their database in real time.  This allows them to get you back data quickly.

Customer Service

Look for a provider that has responsive and helpful customer service, in case you have any questions or issues during the skip tracing process.

Our list of Best Skip Tracing Services and Software by Category

Now that you have an idea of what to look for, let's get to what you really want.  Check out each section for the top providers in each category.  These are almost all companies that we have used in the past, are currently using, or other investors that we know personally have used.  

When possible we included data but as to the nature of skip tracing and cold calling data accuracy is different in different locations.  That being said there are some obvious trends when doing the amount of volume we have done.  So each grouping of the top providers have reasonably similar hit rates and accuracy unless noted.  

Best Bulk Skip Tracing for Accuracy

Accuracy is important when it comes to getting proper contact information.  It will save you time and money.  The following companies have shown to give the most data back for any list being skip traced.  Not only total hits but the accuracy of the total hits as well. 

Batch Skip Tracing - Batch Leads

BatchSkipTracing is a skip tracing tool specifically designed for real estate investors. It is part of the BatchService platform, which offers a range of lead generation tools for real estate professionals.

Pricing

Batch Skip Tracing is 20 cents per skip trace.  With no monthly fee.  You can move to their other company Batch Leads for a monthly fee (plus many other features) and lower your costs.

Our Take

Batch Skip tracing is our top level skip provider.  We currently use it on every list but because it's more expensive, we use it strategically as you can read about below.  We also use it through the Batchleads which has a monthly cost.  You must way the size of your list and the savings you will get per skip to justify the monthly fee.  Unless you use Batch Leads anyways for its other uses.

Other Features

Although this service is specific to skip tracing, if you are willing to pay a monthly fee and frankly get quite a few more features you can move over to Batch Leads.  With a monthly subscription there you get the same quality skip tracing for much less.  Depending on the monthly plan the tracing is 14 cents down to 10 cents each.

Skip Force

Skip Force is a skip tracing platform that offers a feature called "Skip Stacking," which involves running lists through multiple skip tracing databases in order to extract the highest "Right Person Contact" and potentially lower the "burn rate." The platform also has a feature called the "Optimal Call Window" and claims to incorporate a proprietary Tier 1 carrier data set with a Tier 1 credit data set.

Pricing

Pricing ranges from 5 cents to 9 cents per skip depending on how big the list is. They also have a  membership for $49 per month which allows you to skip any number for only 6 cents per hit.

Our Take

Skip Force gives very good data and has a very high hit rate.  The only bulk provider we use that has consistently given more hits per list (not necessarily more accurate) is the Batch Team.  That being said the cost of each hit is dramatically less so we use them more often than Batch.

Other Features

Skip Force has several other features that you can add, and it seems they are actively trying to add more.  They have credit data that can be appended to your numbers as well as they give property data and lists if you don't have a current list provider.

Best Bulk Skip Tracing for Price - Unlimited Skip Tracing

Accuracy is important, as mentioned above but only if the price isn't so far out of line that the returns aren't overcome by the costs of each lead.  This is ultimately a numbers game and most of the contacts you reach will not be selling to you.  So it's important to have a large amount of data.  The providers below mix in reasonable quality with large databases to pull from at very low costs.  We will go over how to utilize these skip tracers to get the best of both worlds in a little bit.

Mojo Sells - Mojo Skip Tracing

Mojo Sells is ultimately a tool for calling all your prospects, but because of their longevity they have added a lot of great features, and skip tracing for phone numbers and emails is one of them.

Pricing

Mojo Skip is the addon service for Finding your lists of phone numbers.  It is $49 per month and it's unlimited.  That is correct, as many traces as you want for no additional cost. Similar to skip tracing is the neighborhood search. This is also $49 and is great if you don't have a list or want to farm a specific area for leads.

Our Take

If you are going to call your leads (not text) then you should seriously consider adding mojo to your tools.  The data was always good for the price and has gotten much better with higher hit rates over the last couple of years.  We have used Mojo for years and are still using it today.

Other Feature

Mojo is way more than skip tracing.  Many companies use it as their sole CRM.  It's got email built into it. Appointment setting calendars, tasks, and much more.  Add your lists, call them and track your leads all in one.

Another related feature that is worth noting here is the ability to pull lists of numbers by area.  Circle an area on a map and it will pull the data for that area.  With this, you are calling everyone though so keep that in mind.

Cole Realty Resource

Cole Realty Resource is one of the longest running list providers.  They were providing numbers when they were on paper.  Their database is large and there are multiple options for buying the data.  In the end they are are a fixed price but unlimited data. 

Pricing

The pricing is structured for different types of industries but for real estate, you can sign up for a single account or team/brokerage.  For a single user and $995 per year, you can get access to data for any single state.  They have limits on monthly downloads for neighborhood searches but you can upload your own lists for essentially unlimited info.  They limit the size of the files but 10k is a lot. Team and brokerages vary but you can get pricing down per team member to less than $312 per year.

Our Take

Cole Realty Resource is a great company with great customer service.  We used to use them exclusively.  We currently aren't using cole but have considered adding them back into our tools.  The large amounts of data are a plus but we have found Mojo to fit our needs at least for now.

Other Features

Similar to Mojo they have a few ways to pull lists and they integrate their data with a lot of different dialers to make it easy.

Best Free Skip Tracing

There are a few free skip tracing services that real estate investors might find helpful.  They work well for one-off properties that you run across or if you are sitting at your desk and get a call from someone telling you to check a certain property out.  

For the most part, you will be looking up properties on these sites individually with no way to upload bulk data.  But they are free and in the case of single property lookups, they might be faster than logging in adding to a spreadsheet, and bulk uploading.

1. Fastpeoplesearch FastPeopleSearch was created to bring next-generation Telephony and Big-Data access to the general public.
2. Truepeoplesearch  Search billions of public records! Get address history, phone numbers, relatives, associates, email addresses & more all for free!
3. ZabaSearch: This is a basic people search engine that allows you to search for a person by name and location.
4. Spokeo: This service offers basic people search capabilities as well as more advanced options like reverse phone lookup and email search.
5. Intelius: This service offers a variety of people search options, including reverse phone lookup and address search.
6. Whitepages: This service allows you to search for people by name, phone number, or address.

Bulk Skip Trace Services To Keep in your Tool Belt

These companies are great because of their low cost and can be used prior to paying for the high end skip tracers.  See the next section how to utilize both to your advantage.

1. Datafinder Bulk data appends for as low as .05 cents per hit without an account.  If you contact them for monthly services they can work out even lower prices.
2. DataZapp Very low per skip prices.  Data is decent and will work as a good in between mixed with some of the higher end tracers.

Cheapest Way to Skip Trace Bulk Data with High Accuracy

Ok, you now have a list of the top providers but is it possible to get bulk data at very low prices?  I mean 20 cents a skip for a list of 10k is still 2k or 1800 at 90 percent hit rates.  That's a lot of money.  Don't fear, we can lower the price of skip tracing dramatically with a little extra effort and some planning.

In short, you will utilize multiple skip tracers in multiple categories.  Starting with an unlimited number and working your way up to the most expensive but most accurate data.

Follow these steps to bring your costs down from $1800 on a list of 10k to somewhere in the 200 to 400 range.

1. Start with one of the unlimited tracers and run your entire list through it. (generally 50 to 60 percent will hit)
2. Export only the contacts that didn't get numbers take that list and upload it to the other unlimited or if you only have one the least expensive bulk provider.  
3. Export only the contacts that didn't hit (usually another 10 to 20 percent). Upload that list to the next lowest provider and so on.
4. End your bulk uploads with Batch Skip Tracer.  Usually, there will only be 5 to 15 percent of your total list left which is 500 to 1500 contacts.  The hit rate will be somewhat lower than normal as the remaining contacts are tougher to get numbers on.  But you will usually get several more.  Leaving you with a list of maybe 10 percent of contacts without a hit. Say you go another 10 percent at 20 cents that only $200 bucks through batch vs $1800.  Get the monthly subscription for batch leads and save more if you are doing larger lists.
5. Add up all the other skip tracing and by the time you are done, you will have saved quite a bit of money. 

Bonus tip 1.  Take the rest of the contacts without hits and pay someone to look them up individually or try single searches mentioned.  These contacts are less likely to have been contacted so there numbers might be worth more to find.

Bonus tip 2.  Only after you have called and weeded out the bad numbers should you take the lists and run them at the next more expensive level.  (if you want to try and squeeze everything out of them)  tagging the contacts correctly will be important so you don't run the same contact through a skip tracer you already used them on.

Bonus tip 2.  If you can't find a number at all, find another way to contact that house.  Since their numbers are hard to find they likely haven't been hit up by every other investor.  Send mail, door knock or whatever you feel you can do.  These leads could be gold.

Lastly, we didn't really cover do not call lists or litigators lists.  But it is important to follow any laws and regulations in your area as well as the areas you are calling.  That is out of the scope of this article but more information can be found here as well as on other sites.  You can also check up on TCP compliance from The FCC official site and as always when in doubt ask an attorney.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are a variety of skip tracing services available for real estate investors. Cole Realty Resource and Mojo are great choices. For those looking for free options, FastPeopleSearch, TruePeopleSearch, ZabaSearch, Spokeo, Intelius, and Whitepages all offer basic people search capabilities but are difficult to do in large numbers. Finally, if you need to skip trace bulk data with high accuracy at an affordable price point then consider using a service like Cole Realty Resource or Mojo.